Amazon is bringing its programme of allowing entrepreneurs to run their own fleet of delivery trucks for the company, which was announced in US earlier this year, to India, according to sources aware of the development.

The Seattle-based company had announced in June that it was set to work with small businesses in US by providing vehicles with the Amazon logo at a discounted lease, along with fuel, insurance, and other benefits, letting an entrepreneur make as much as $300,000 a year running 40 trucks for the company.

Under the programme, internally referred to as Project Armada (a Spanish word for a fleet of warships), Amazon has also partnered to work with some logistics companies in India who will lease out and supply vehicles to entrepreneurs here.

One such player has already leased hundreds of vehicles to entrepreneurs and businesses, according to one of the sources. The pilot has started in Delhi as of now, the second person said.

“Amazon wants to take the figure to 1,200 vehicles in one year, with an aim to ensure this programme contributes about 20% of Amazon’s total deliveries by the second year,” the person cited above said. The aim for the company is to have a dedicated channel of its fleet operated by delivery partners and also boost capacity as the company sees massive growth in the country coming from tier 2 and beyond.

Amazon did not comment specifically on this programme’s launch in India. “We cannot speculate on our future roadmap but what we can say is that Amazon continues to invest in its transportation infrastructure and other innovative ways to expand its supply chain capacity and speed up deliveries for customers,” a company spokesperson said.

For Amazon, the move to boost the alternative delivery channel is likely to help the company cut transport costs, while also depending less on third-party logistic partners.

In its regulatory filings in the US, Amazon had cited risks associated with relying on external shipping partners such as FedEx, stating that there could be a negative impact on operating results and customer experience if the company was unable to negotiate terms with these transport players or if the latter were to experience performance problems.

The company saw its shipping costs, which include sortation and delivery center and transportation costs, go up from $9 billion in the first six months of 2017 to $12.1 billion for the first six months of 2018, as per its latest filings.

Amazon has already been boosting its alternate delivery channel in India, and has been working with entrepreneurs and businesses who serve as last-mile delivery centres.

Akhil Saxena, vice president for customer fulfillment at Amazon, told ET last week that the company has doubled its last-mile service partner network to 700 stations in about 500 cities and towns. Amazon’s ‘I Have Space’ programme of neighbourhood kirana stores serving as last-mile delivery centres has also expanded to 20,000 outlets in over 350 cities.

Saxena said the company currently sees 1,500 trucks on the road each day connecting more than 500 cities.